The Canterlot Orphanage
by The Master 100
Summary: The Orphanage seemed like, to all of Canterlot, a cheery place that gave fillies and colts a second chance. But the children inside know the truth. Only a selected few are ever adopted, and the rest are left to fend for themselves. But when disaster strikes, everything falls apart.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

I can't remember the day I arrived at the Orphanage. But I remember the day I left.

I was one of the oldest in the orphanage. While this may have been bragging rights if I were in school, the older you were, the less hope you had. Nopony wanted to adopt a grown colt. They wanted newborn babies. So the older you were, the less chance you had of even getting a second glance. And then there was the second factor, which almost guaranteed I would stay in the Orphanage until I was thrown out into the streets. I didn't have a horn, or wings. I didn't blame them for not adopting me. The ideal pony was something that Ms. Agave forced upon the possible candidates. Small fillies and colts, pegasi and unicorns only, preferably without cutie marks. There were few of these in the Orphanage- they stayed, and left within weeks. I had been here years. They all blurred together now. The only other pony that had been here longer than me was Autumn Breeze. She was two years younger than me, but she had arrived here just weeks old. Her mother died in childbirth, and shortly after, her father was arrested for rebellion against Princess Celestia. She hasn't seen him since. She told me her background just once, when I first came here. We never talked about it after that. I suppose you could say she was my closest friend. There were others, of course, who would most likely stay until my time came to leave.

We had created a group when we first came here. We all knew our chances of adoption were slim. Most of us were Earth ponies, but some were not. Autumn wasn't, she was a unicorn. She hadn't been adopted, however, because of the color of magic she had. It was a dark purple, and old pony tales said that dark magic meant a bad pony. She wasn't, of course. She was one of the nicest ponies I knew, but here she remained, most likely to stay. Sugar Drop was also a unicorn, but she had arrived at the orphanage late, almost as old as me. Cyclone was a Pegasus. That wasn't his real name, but he wouldn't tell anyone it. He was ashamed, it seemed. He had been a popular candidate for the perfect pony, but when he was flying in the yard, showing off the some possible adopters, one of his stunts went wrong and he fell, hitting the ground hard. He had broken his wing, the doctor said, but it should heal in a few months. Those months had come and gone, but he still couldn't fly. The doctor returned later to tell him he had read the x-ray's wrong. Most of the bones supporting the wings, from his spine, were shattered. It was unfixable, and the doctor guaranteed he would probably never fly again. The rest of us are Earth ponies. Sugar Drop and I take care of many of the younger ponies. Ms. Agave likes to complain, but hates to do anything about it.

It all changed so fast, in just a matter of months. I'll never forget the day it started to fall apart.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up to a morning that wasn't different from any other. The sun shone through a small glass window high above me, the glass streaked with rain and dirt. The bed was lumpy, as it always was. The burlap blanket that covered me had scratched me in the night, as it always did. I got up quietly, making sure not to wake any of the other colts in my room. The wallpaper peeled near the doorway. I was sure it had been years since anyone had even thought about replacing it. In the kitchen, Sugar Drop was already working with two young Earth ponies to prepare breakfast. I recognized them from every morning- nearly identical twins who never separated from each other. Only their cutie marks were different. One had a purple mixing bowl, with a wooden spoon in it. The other had a muffin, with a beige wrapper. They didn't talk much, and I didn't even know their names.

"Hey, Sugar Drop. What's for breakfast?" I asked, as I did every morning.

"A four meal buffet with daisy sandwiches," She said, busily trotting around the kitchen, "And to top it off, some sugar cubes and orange juice." She smiled a little to her self. It was nice to see her smile. She didn't smile very often, and she often seemed sad. She set a small, beige bowl in front of me.

"I'm pretty sure this is less than usual," I said, poking the bowl with my hoof, "I usually get at least another tablespoon. She took a moment to look up at me.

"Well, we got two new arrivals today. Both Pegasus. They'll be gone by next week, but we still have to feed them." She continued stirring the large pot of mush that made up breakfast every morning. I assumed it was oatmeal, but it was more water than anything. Still, I ate it. It fought off the cold that seeped beneath every door and window here, and it was all I got until dinner. Autumn walked in sleepily.

"Morning," Sugar Drop greeted her, "You want breakfast now or later."

"I suppose now, before the little ones come out." She joined me at the long, wooden table that would soon be filled with loud children.

"The clouds are odd today," One of the twins began.

"They're pink," The other continued, "But it isn't near sunrise yet."

"Well, I'm no Pegasus, but I think clouds can reflect light from the ground. So maybe the ground's pink somewhere." Sugar Drop said. She was still looking down at the pot of oatmeal. The talk of pink clouds was forgotten as the first noises of the others awakening were heard.

"Hey, Seafoam, something weird is going on outside." Cyclone said. He was standing in the room that separated the yard and the Orphanage. He was also dripping.

"Is it raining?" I asked.

"If it were raining, would I be sticky?" Cyclone lifted his working wing and sighed. "It's sweet, too."

"Sweet?" I asked. I heard a yell from the kitchen, and turned around. A small filly had opened a window. It was raining. She had a glass out the window.

"Starshine!" I yelled to her, "You can get water from the tap." She held the glass to me, speechless. I trotted over and took it. It wasn't water. It was brown, and thick.

"Chocolate milk." She said. With those two words, she released chaos. The children ran to the window, glasses in hand. Many of them had never even had chocolate milk, only heard of it.

"Hey!" I shouted. The children quieted, but still held their glasses out of the windows. "Stop that right now!" The other ponies looked down at their hooves in shame. I had authority, because of my age. "We can get more chocolate milk if we organize." The children applauded me, some laughing. I set to work filling some of the larger containers kept under the sink, with chocolate milk. The room was almost bursting with excitement. We had gotten the three largest containers filled in less than ten minutes, and Sugar Drop was handing out glasses.

"Right then," I began, "Who hasn't had a drink yet?" Nearly every hand rose. I sighed. Try as I might, they would be children. "Who would swear on their dinner that they didn't have a drink?" The hands lowered hesitantly. Eventually, only three remained. They were the littlest ones.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Tangerine Sunset." A small filly said quietly. She was a Pegasus, and her coat was a light, smooth orange. She would be adopted soon, I thought with bitter jealously. The other one spoke.

"I don't know." This one was a colt. His mane was light blue. His cutie mark was a gray cloud, but he wasn't a Pegasus.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I asked him. I had raised enough fillies and colts to know how to get them to talk.

"We came here together. We don't have names." He said, shuffling closer to the other one. She was a unicorn. Her cutie mark was a purple ribbon, wrapped around a blue one.

"When did you get here? And where are you from?" Autumn asked them. She was still holding her bowl of oatmeal, sitting at the table.

"About a week ago. We're from the Manehattan countryside."

"You're a long way from home." I said, looking at them in a new way. I used to have family there.

"Wasn't our choice," The filly said, "We got roasted out. Dragons out there now, too."

"A dragon?" Sugar Drop asked. Her eyes darted towards me.

"Burned the place down." She said, dropping her gaze to the floor. "We've been wandering ever since. Until we landed here. Can't even remember when we started wandering. Babies, I suppose."

The colt kept talking, but by that time I was out of earshot. I leaned against the wall, and tried to forget the burning house.

"Hey." A voice said from behind me. I could recognize it, even without having to see her face, "You okay?"

"Yeah." I said.

"C'mon, let's go get some chocolate rain." Autumn said. I smiled. She always knew how to distract me from my problems. She was the first one I had told about what had happened that led me here. Only her, Sugar Drop and Cyclone knew. I wanted to keep it that way. As we walked outside, I could hear the kids laughing in the kitchen. The sun was rising now, as would be Ms. Agave. And that would surely cease the laughter.


	3. Chapter 3

I was back inside, dealing with the aftermath of too much chocolate milk. The spills and dirty cups weren't much of a problem; I had gotten Sugar Drop and a few of the older ponies to help with that. It was the kids themselves that worried me. Two fillies and a colt were feeling sick, and I was worried. Cyclone was helping me with them. They were in a bedroom that had blue and white stripes on the walls. It was used for children older than babies or toddlers, but still within the perfect pony range. Blank flank unicorn and pegasi. It was empty, save a couple beds at the end.

"They shouldn't have drunk so much," Cyclone said, "Could be dirty. Rain picks up all the dirt in the air. So the milk should have, too."

"Oh, they'll be fine." I said, feeling the colt's forehead.

"If you say so," Cyclone said, looking out the window, "I guess I believe you. Hey. Hey, those clouds are back"

"Huh?" I asked, still tending to the children.

"They're pink. They're moving really fast, and they're pink. Sea, look." Cyclone was by the window now, hoof against the glass. I looked up. At first I saw nothing. Then, a flash of pink. I trotted to the window, as well. I saw them then, all over the sky. This was not normal. The rain slanted from them at impossible angles. Beneath them, some of the younger ones played and laughed. The last time there had been chaos like this hadn't been so long ago. I closed my eyes and remembered the Royal Wedding. For them, it hadn't been so bad. But for us- we saw people dropped from the sky, people turned into mere husks. They gave us some excuse, sucking the love out of them. I had laughed when I first heard that. That wasn't love. Blood, perhaps, organs maybe. We had kept the younger ponies downstairs, and they hadn't seen it. But I had. And I didn't want it to happen again.

"Cyclone," I said as calmly as possible, "Get everypony downstairs, ok? Also, tell Sugar Drop to bring down food and water, and get Autumn to get some medicine and blankets for these ponies. I'm going to go for a walk."

Cyclone began to respond, but stopped and nodded instead. He quickly trotted into the hallway, and I could hear him yelling to the others. I went as calmly as possible to the door, and grabbed the tattered, brown hat I had had since I could remember. Last time, I had hid in the basement and waited it out. This time, I was talking to her. Celestia.

The streets were empty, despite it being just a few hours before lunchtime. They knew what was going to happen next. Shops were closed, and there were no noises. A door swung open, and a filly ran out, laughing. She opened her mouth to the sky, getting soaked in a cloud that had decided to hover above her. A scream came from inside the house, and a pony who was nodoubtly her mother pulled her in. The silence continued after this, and after a while the castle came into view ahead of him. He could see a crowd outide, quietly shuffling about. The doors weren't open. But she would have to answer to her citizens.


	4. Chapter 4

"Citizens!" Princess Celestia called out, "We have an urgent matter at hand." The crowd, at first silent in awe at the sight of her, nodded and mumbled in agreement. Even I had been surprised when I had first seen her. She was still the same godly figure, seemingly glowing dimly with a sort of white light. But her eyes were tired. I think some other ponies realized it, too, because there was a general sort of discomfort in the crowd.

"Discord, a master of chaos, had returned from stone to wreak havoc on the land! The weather is not all that has changed- the very fate of Equestria shifts with every move he makes. Luckily, I have sent the Elements of Harmony to stop Discord, and free Equestria!" She raised one hoof dramatically towards the sky. I wanted to scream with outrage, but even I knew what limits must be pressed when in the company of the Princess. The lines of guards surrounding her were just enough to scare me into not saying anything. A stallion next to me yelled out, "What good have they done us before?" A heavy silence remained for a few seconds. The stallion's face had gone pale as he realized what he had done. Celestia looked at him with enough hatred that he physically shook.

"Do not fear, Citizens!" She continued, "For Discord will be stopped soon enough!" She turned around on the last word, the guards following her in two organized lines. Her speeches, usually lengthy, dull things, were something dreaded by everypony. But this one, so short, and to the point… it was unusual. I turned to the stallion next to me, to warn him about what might happen to him now that he had spoken up, but he was already gone. I thought I saw a brief flash of limbs caught up in the lines of guards, still filing into the castle, but I looked away quickly. As the doors shut, the uproar began. Ear shattering noise, screams and crying. If this was anything like what had happened last time, I could die today. While many still stayed at the castle doors, screaming for justice, or crying for protection, I joined the few who were already galloping away quickly. I needed to get back to the orphanage, and soon.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the basement was the silence. If you put together just under thirty fillies and colts in one room, you would expect talking and laughing and possibly crying. But when I went down into the basement, I knew why. The children were in their respective categories- my group, and some others who occasionally joined us. All mostly grown, and almost all of us were Earth ponies. Next, the mourners- sad, silent children who said little and cried often. They still missed their parents, but they were a small group of five. Next, the second-choice perfect ponies. An even smaller group of half grown children, mostly colts. Then, the perfect ponies, wrapped in silky blankets with their manes brushed perfectly. They were on assorted mattresses and pillows, while the rest sat one the floor. In front of them, however, was the real problem- Ms. Agave.

"I suppose you've got some excuse for abandoning us." She snapped, rocking a baby in her arms.

"At the Royal Castle. Trying to figure out what to make of this mess." I responded. The shorter the answer, the better, If you said nothing, she had nothing to complain about.

"The Royal Castle? Did you sit down and have some tea with Princess Celestia, leaving us to all the work? My hooves are sore, Celestia knows I won't be able to hold anything for at least a few days."

"With all due respect, Ms. Agave, we did some work, too." I was only thinking of Sugar Drop, and how she would work till she was drenched with sweet, and covered in cuts and blisters.

"How dare you," She said, standing up and moving towards me, "How dare you talk back to me like that! You sit around here all day, doing nothing but eating my food and living in my house! The least you could do is be grateful I take you all in. You in particular." She paused, and looked right at me. She was a cruel old mare, and she knew just how to upset you. I tried to control what I said next, but the words tumbled out over one another.

"Why me in particular?" I was just fueling the flame she loved to burn me with.

"Well, nobody wants you. You know that. You're far too old now. Even your own parents didn't want you, would rather be burnt to crisps than to live with you." She sat down again, looking satisfied. At first, I felt nothing. But then the hurt started seeping in, until it actually seemed to ache in my chest. I opened my mouth to say something, but changed my mind. I went over to my group and sat down in front of them. Ms. Agave smirked a little bit, still rocking the child. This would be a slow day.


End file.
